Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 3

[257] have welcomed him as a coadjutor. Winthrop has lived more than forty years since his retirement from Congress,—a wellknown figure in Boston, its most conspicuous citizen for a long period; administering charities municipal and national; an orator of foremost rank, called to speak for his city and country on great commemorative days; faithful to church, to family, and to friends; gracious to old adversaries; and opening his door on February 22, year after year, for his fellow-citizens to join with him in a filial tribute to Washington. Those who contended against him in the years 1846 to 1851, and have known him in his old age, regret only that he did not take his place with Adams, Sumner, and Wilson, and prolong a public career which promised to be of great service to his country and mankind.